Comfort Songs

I’ve been really busy as the new year gets going and consequentially I’ve neglected my January mix, so I'm sorry that it's late! When I started looking at what I was listening to this month I realized that my theme is actually quite clear and although there isn’t really a holiday to set the tone for January (I felt sad after I wrote that), there is an overall feeling of change that is suddenly ushered in, at least until February starts and then it ends.


I am a big advocate for change in life, new experiences and doing things that challenge our normal comforts, but I’m also filled with a lot of nervous energy as a person, so change can stress me out in fairly impressive ways. When I feel like an anxious mess I listen to songs that bring me comfort. Simple.

This mix was kind of thrown together, which is not in my typical fashion, so the songs are kind of arbitrary. They all bring me comfort, but hundreds of songs bring me comfort, so these are just twelve of them and they aren't the most special and they aren't the least special. Enjoy! - Mara

1. Elliott Smith - "In The Lost And Found (Honky Back)"

 He's always been one of my favorite musicians and I feel his contribution to music is incalculable. I've never listened to any of his songs in response to anything that called for celebration, but I've listened to his music for all those other times when nothing good happened or when things were just sort of stagnant, but it was okay. "I'm in love, love I hope," is one of my favorite lines, plus the piano in this song is outstanding.

2. Belle & Sebastian - "Piazza, New York Catcher"

Out of all the bands I have come to know as an ardent music fan, I’ve listened to Belle & Sebastian for almost a decade now, thus developing a very passionate loyalty to them, so it’s hard to say why this one song in particular gives me comfort. It sounds like an Americana story of young lovers running away together, dealing with the consequences and the man in this relationship also just really loves baseball. I feel like this song woos me into comfort. I love the Ferdinand and Miranda reference (I’m assuming it’s those two), the lure of adventure with someone you adore, hanging around San Francisco, and especially the line, “tenderly you tell about the saddest book you ever read, it always makes you cry,” because it makes me think of “A Farewell to Arms”, which always makes me cry, but I love it dearly.

3. The Velvet Underground - "Pale Blue Eyes"

4. Beach House - "Used to Be"

I think some of the most taxing change to cope with is when people you love change, or maybe more appropriately, when life just puts you in different directions and you no longer have the relationship that you once knew. I find Victoria's voice to be most comforting when she says, "Don't forget the nights when it all felt right. Are you not the same as you used to be?" 

5. Talking Heads - "Creatures of Love"

6. Neil Young - "After the Gold Rush"

When I went to college I moved to a state where I knew absolutely no one because I wanted to know that I was capable enough to build a life from scratch. Ultimately I succeeded very well, but before the ultimately of it all came about there was this horrible period of doubt and loneliness. I spent a handful of nights listening to Science Friday podcasts in my room, which is something I had done before college and I do it now, but it is a depressing hobby when you don’t have friends and to dramatize that I was just generally frustrated and overwhelmed. I would listen to this album and the title track always made me feel better, even though it sounds like it's about wrecking the world slowly and surely. I’m comforted by the piano and by his voice because I feel like he’s just a friend talking to you about the shitty state of things. It’s just honest.

7. Otis Redding - "(Sittin' On) The Dock of The Bay

Yesterday was a rough day, but I was making an effort to keep my spirits up and create the illusion that I was still accomplishing what I had set out to get done. Around 5:00 I stopped at a coffee shop with the intention to just sit outside (I live in Los Angeles so the weather isn't impairing life) and take some time to relax. Almost immediately after I bought my lemonade I spilled it all over the front of my dress and decided the world had won. It's songs like this one that help make the shitty days seem just a tiny bit better.

8. Bob Dylan - "Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again"

I've heard some reviewers say this song is about the turmoil and chaos that happened when Dylan went electric along with many other elements of the music industry, political changes at the time and also drugs. The song is so elaborate, it can be exhausting to try to decipher exactly what Dylan is talking about. Sometimes it sounds like the cycle of things and how nothing ever really changes, but I think it's good not to obsess over the meaning. It's one of my favorite songs and sometimes that is all you need for comfort.
-I couldn't find a good video for this one.

9. Okkervil River - "John Allyn Smith Sails"

10. Brian Eno - "Cindy Tells Me"

11. The Pogues - "Body of an American"

12. Tchaikovsky - "Waltz of the Flowers"

Ballet is sometimes seen as a sport for boring people, but I really like ballet and I really like Tchaikovsky, partly because I studied Russia in college and he is like a god over there, especially for the Soviet Russians who had to renounce any organized god, and partly because it’s hard to deny his remarkable talent. This is a gentle, moving, engulfing score of music that makes me feel like I’m being hugged. I sometimes close my eyes, lie down on my bed, play this piece, clear my head and feel all the stress dissipate.